Secret sentence: Outcome in Taylor case withheld from public

Thursday

Jul 10, 2014 at 3:30 PM

By Scott Brand

Is there a legal basis or is it a matter of being kept quiet?

That is the question as to what happened in the 11th Circuit Court on Tuesday when Steve Taylor, 40, of Newberry was scheduled to be sentenced for delivery of a controlled substance before Judge William Carmody.

“Not being made public,” said the Luce County Clerk’s Office when The Evening News attempted to learn what happened on Tuesday.

Luce County Prosecutor Joshua Freed did not return three phone calls as The Evening News attempted to follow up on the case.

“The prosecutor can’t speak about it either,” said the person who answered at the office early today.

Taylor had pleaded guilty in June to delivery of a controlled substance and was facing a maximum of seven years in prison for the offense when he appeared for sentencing on Tuesday.

Judge Carmody could not be reached for comment, either.

The case stems from a Straits Area Narcotics Enforcement operation back in April where Taylor reportedly delivered Vicodin to an undercover agent.

At the time of his arrest, Taylor was a sobriety court coordinator for the 92nd District Sobriety Court, which — according to the Luce County website — is a specialized court-supervised drug and alcohol treatment providing intensive substance abuse treatment and case management for non-violent criminal offenders.

The court integrates alcohol and drug treatment services with justice system case processing in that the court, case managers, and treatment providers maintain ongoing communication regarding each client’s overall program performance.

Taylor was a part-time contract employee averaging less than 20 hours per week, and had served in that role since 2008.

The 92nd District Court covers both Luce and Mackinac counties.

Michigan Law 771.1 reads in part “in an action in which the court may place the defendant on probation, the court may delay sentencing the defendant for not more than 1 year to give the defendant an opportunity to prove to the court his or her eligibility for probation or other leniency compatible with the ends of justice and the defendant’s rehabilitation, such as participation in a drug treatment court.”

The law further reads: “When sentencing is delayed, the court shall enter an order stating the reason for the delay upon the court’s records. The delay in passing sentence does not deprive the court of jurisdiction to sentence the defendant at any time during the period of delay.”

Two Chippewa County private practice attorneys expressed surprise at the Luce County court’s “not being made public” stance. Without seeing the file for the case, however, neither one could go on the record to explain what may have transpired to prohibit the public from learning the outcome of Taylor’s sentencing on Tuesday.

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